Tuesday Tunes 198: What? More?

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This week I’m again continuing my revisit of previous themes for which I have another set of tunes to play. You may recall that I ran a series on the Five Ws and H of journalism, and one of those, back in February, was songs with what in their title. I have more than enough of those for another set, so today what songs are getting another airing.

Let’s get straight into it with a band I’ve always loved, who are a kind of national treasure over here, though they mean the square root of diddly squat to most of you across the pond. You loss, guys, as these chaps are always good to hear:

What You’re Proposing was a track on Status Quo’s thirteenth album – Just Supposin’ – which was released in October 1980 and got to #4 in the UK Albums chart. Wikipedia doesn’t even bother including the US and Canada in their table of chart placings! This track came out as a single a couple of weeks earlier that month, and peaked at #2 in the UK. The video features Francis Rossi, on lead guitar and vocals, Alan Lancaster on bass and vocals, Rick Parfitt on rhythm guitar, Andy Bown on keyboards, and John Coghlan on drums: some info about the band for those over the pond who have no idea who they are – or were, sadly, as Rick and Alan are no longer with us. They are aways fun to watch, and are about to go on tour here yet again. I always liked the way they never took themselves too seriously: they have often been accused of playing simple three chord music, and entitled a later album In Search Of The Fourth Chord to have a dig back at critics (borrowing a Moody Blues album title as inspiration).

Another long time favourite of mine is up next:

That video is a performance by John Mellencamp supporting the release in September 1993 of his twelfth album, Human Wheels, which included this track: What If I Came Knocking. I bought the album at the time – on the day it was released – and it was as always a joy to play it in the car on the commute home from work, and often after that. The album peaked at #7 in the US and Australia, at #6 in Canada and even made the UK chart, at #37. Like everything he did, and has done since, I loved it. This track was released to radio as a single ahead of the album, and reached #1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart, based on radio play. In case you’re wondering, the lovely violin player is Lisa Germano, who played on five of John’s albums before leaving to begin her own solo career, though she rejoined the band for last year’s tour.

Proving that you can’t keep a good band down, I played this next lot last week, and here they are again:

R.E.M. released What’s The Frequency Kenneth? as a single in September 1994, just ahead of its inclusion on their ninth album, Monster, later that month. The single got to #9 in the UK and #21 in the US, but the album went to #1 in both countries and several others too, selling more than 9m copies worldwide, and in the process going 3x Platinum in the UK, 4x Platinum in the US, and 6x Platinum in Canada. The track’s title refers to an incident in New York City in 1986 in which two then-unknown assailants attacked journalist Dan Rather while repeating “Kenneth, what is the frequency?” One of the assailants, William Tager, eventually did time for the crime, as a side issue to his murdering a stage hand at NBC Studios: he believed that they were broadcasting signals into his brain and was trying to gain access to find out the frequency on which they broadcast. He was paroled in 2010, and is no doubt getting ready to vote for Trump in November.

Something a little lighter now, I think:

I’ve written several times before about The Monkees and have even devoted a whole post to them in my Listen To The Band series, so I’ll keep it brief this time. They released What Am I Doing Hanging Round? in November 1967 on their fourth album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd, which went to #1 in the US, #2 in Canada and #5 in the UK, going 2x Platinum in the US for more than 2m sales. This track wasn’t released as a single, though it was the B-side to an Australian-only single of the band’s song Mary, Mary, which got to #4 there.

For today’s final tune I’m playing one by someone making a long overdue first appearance on my blog:

Boz Scaggs is one of those artists I’ve always quite liked, but not in a major way. I only ever bought one of his albums – Silk Degrees – for which What Can I Say was the opening track. The album was released in February 1976 and spent 115 weeks on the US Albums chart, peaking at #2. In the UK it reached #20, which is still his highest album placing here. As a single, this one reached #42 in the US but did much better here, peaking at #10 – again, his best UK chart placing.

That’s the lot for this week, and I hope you’ve enjoyed them and will come back again for the next set – and for what I’ll be offering in the meantime. Have a great week! 😊

55 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 198: What? More?”

  1. Pingback: May(be) | Take It Easy

  2. Haha on the meme! I thought I had left a comment on here before but apparently I just responded in my head. LOL!
    Gotta love the Monkees. 🙂
    Mellancamp is good too! I won tickets long ago when my husband and I were first married and went to one of his concerts. It was an outdoor concert and fun.

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  3. As always great choices Clive my girls were fans of the Monkees…Nice to see Quo here although I do prefer the earlier tracks from them…I was treated to The Kinks yesterday by Aston as he cleaned his bike my musical choices have obviously rubbed off on him 😂xx

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  6. Wow! You picked out my favorite John Cougar Mellencamp song. I’m a bit surprised it made #1 here because I didn’t hear it that much on the radio.

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  7. The usual well crafted selection Clive. Status Quo burned best early on for me ‘Matchstick Men’ and ‘Ice In The Sun,’ after that I was aware they were still around but not moved to buy anything they put out. They kept on going though, and as you say, parts of them are still keeping the name and legacy going.

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    • Wikipedia doesn’t list any chart singles or albums for the Quo in Canada, so maybe they are one of those bands who are enjoyed live but don’t sell records? It has always seemed odd to me that they haven’t sold more in N America!

      Glad you enjoyed Boz Scaggs’ debut here, and the Monkees are always worth an airing for me 😊

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    • Well done for knowing that, their first hit single here and one of only two they had there, both in their early psychedelic days. They’ve since released around another hundred singles and over thirty albums, none of which has got remotely close to the US charts!

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  10. I have all the Status Quo albums on vinyl from Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon to Blue For You. I’ll probably dig one out after I’ve finished on here plus a few others.
    Boz Skaggs ‘Silk Degrees’ is a favourite album (it’s the only on of his I have). 🙂
    ‘Monster’ is marvellous!

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    • That’s quite a collection!

      Snap on Boz Scaggs, as that was the only one of his I bought too.

      I remember being a little disappointed with Monster when it first came out, as it didn’t feel as good as their two previous ones – Out Of Time and Automatic For The People – but it grew on me 😊

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  11. I always enjoy your lists, Clive. Especially, because they involve several eras of music. Of course, I know the Status Quo song. I remember them playing the song a few years ago on a regional festival. It was awesome!

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